Wangaratta bus crash anniversary

For those who lost loved ones in the Wangaratta Bus crash, Melbourne Cup day has a sombre mood. But it's also a day of reflection for those who witnessed the tragic scene on the first Tuesday in November 1993.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the fatal Wangaratta bus crash in which ten people died and many others were injured.

It was Melbourne Cup day 1993 and I was working in the ABC's Albury Studios on the corner of Swift and Olive Streets.

I had started in May of that year as the Morning Presenter and worked with a team of experienced journalists including Jim Lempriere.

It was Jim who got the call about 11 o'clock in the morning, to say there had been a crash between a semi-trailer truck and a bus, with multiple fatalities.

Quickly, we got our recording equipment, which was a small mini disc with a microphone and headset, and a mobile phone that looked more like a besser brick than the sleek light weight ones you see today, and got in the car.

I drove and I can recall Jim going through his notes and piecing together what he knew about the smash.

We didn't talk much and I concentrated on the road as it was wet and drizzling all the way from Albury to Wangaratta.

I had never been to an accident of this magnitude, and didn't know what to expect, Jim in a reassuring way told me to stay close once we got there.

The truck and bus had crashed two kilometres north of Wangaratta on the Hume Highway at an area known as the "S bend".

Members of the Anglo-Indian Association were headed to Corowa for a Melbourne Cup outing.

When Jim and I arrived at the scene the bus was on its side, it had rolled down a four metre embankment and landed in a metre-deep billabong.

It looked like a tin opener had crudely cut through the top half of the driver's side of the bus.

A confronting sight, with bodies still being removed and personal belongings carefully being picked up on the side of the embankment.

A media conference was about to begin and a photographer turned to me and said "be careful where you step".

At first I thought this was a strange thing to say, but as we moved closer I could see spray painted circles around scattered items strewn across the road, including what looked like human remains.

I carefully walked with the media-pack, feeling sick to my stomach and incredibly sad, I had never been this close to a fatality.

I saw two hands, with bright red nail polish on the fingernails protruding from under a blanket, it's an image as vivid as though it was yesterday.

Ten people lost their lives on the 2nd of November 1993, their names are displayed on the memorial not far from where the crash occurred. They are: Antonia Provenzano, Caterina Vaiani, Vincenza Guarino, Grazia Munafo, Giuseppina Munafo, Yvonne Keachie, Alfred Mendez, Rene Nicoholas, Doreen Kendall and Dawn Yanderputt.

Below their names is another plaque thanking the Council, Rotary, all the Government Departments and the people of Wangaratta for their support.

To this day whenever I drive past the memorial I think of the people whose lives would have changed forever that Melbourne Cup day, those who died, those who survived, and those who were first to respond.